In 2014, Rimmer was picked from an all-women shortlist as Labour's candidate in the 2015 general election to succeed Shaun Woodward as MP for St Helens South and Whiston.[2] Thirteen years prior, she was blocked from being shortlisted for the same seat ahead of the 2001 general election by Labour's national executive committee, amidst accusations of a "stitch-up" to parachute Woodward into the seat, as he was unlikely to win his Witney seat which he won in 1997 as a Conservative.[4]